


HBICs and Having to Let Go…Maybe

by mcgarrygirl78



Series: BSU [4]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Drama, F/M, Family, Friendship, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-07
Updated: 2014-10-07
Packaged: 2018-02-20 08:02:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2421215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Does anyone else want to tell me in not so subtle terms that I'm an ass?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	HBICs and Having to Let Go…Maybe

**Author's Note:**

> Remember _BSU_? It’s back! I love writing about this show so I had a great time churning out this fic.

“Wow, she is a major bitch.”

The screen suddenly froze and the room got quiet. Erin thought everyone might have stopped breathing. She noticed they were all staring at her. Some were pretending to do anything but while others were just doing it.

“What?” she asked.

“Well, she is the Section Chief.” Penelope offered.

“I know and…” Erin stopped. “Oh my God, I'm nothing like Karen Strasser. I'm…”

“The scene with her, Roman, and Pres in the last episode was vaguely familiar.” Derek replied. “Remember when they all went to Pittsburgh.”

“But…she’s awful.” Erin said. “Oh to hell with it, I’ll just have another drink.”

“Its creative license baby.” Dave replied, kissing her cheek.

“I should sue for defamation of character.” Erin crossed her arms as Morgan got up to get her a beer.

It was a drizzly Saturday in July and the family was together for the full Season 2 re-watch of _BSU_. Season 3 was about to begin and everyone wanted to be fresh for it. Hotch couldn’t believe he actually agreed to spend a whole Saturday off watching 13 hours of his least favorite show in the whole world. Well, he hadn't really agreed to it; he had been pushed into it by his wife. Everyone was coming over at 11 and it would be such fun, she said.

They needed fun in their lives. They needed to let go, laugh, talk at the same time, and enjoy moments with the people they loved the most. Not even news that Dave was bringing Erin dampened Emily’s spirits. It did a little bit but she refused to let it completely ruin her day. It was a couples thing…JJ brought Will, Garcia had Kevin, and Spencer and Austin were there as well.

Morgan and Jordan weren't a couple but they were happy to play the square pegs. Telling Dave that his girlfriend wasn’t allowed, even if Emily hated her guts, was wrong. Emily could be many things…she was only human. But two wrongs didn’t make a right. She may as well have Erin there and deal with the chips however they fell.

“Don’t feel too bad, ma'am.” Kevin said. “My character, Drake, can be a simpering fool. At least yours is an HBIC.”

They all laughed; Hotch covered his mouth so that he wouldn’t.

“HBIC?” Erin looked at Kevin. “What does that mean?”

“Head bitch in charge.” Jordan replied.

“Does it really mean that?” Erin asked. She looked at Dave. “Does it mean that?”

“Yes.” Dave nodded.

“HBIC…I like that. I like that a lot. I still hate Karen Strasser but I could get used to HBIC. That’s very creative, Kevin.”

“I can't take credit for making it up.” He said.

“Resist the power of the dark side, Erin.” Hotch said with a smirk.

“Are we ready?” Emily asked, taking the television off pause.

“We do get to see some of Strasser’s redeeming qualities in her relationship with Palmieri.” Penelope said.

“I have to admit to being a big fan of their snarky banter.” Jordan said. “They were so doing it back in the day. We all know that it’s all about Pres and Palmieri now but I can give Strasser her credit.”

“Oh my God,” Erin covered her mouth. “I thought I was the only one who noticed that.”

“Noticed what?” JJ asked.

“There are clearly homosexual undertones in Pres and Palmieri’s relationship. Its there isn’t it…I wasn’t wrong.”

“Its there.” Jordan nodded. “They have a history; it’s practically canon.”

“Ha!” she clapped her hands and smiled. “I was right. I hate this show but I noticed that from season one.”

“If you hate the show, then why do you watch?” Reid asked. He passed the popcorn bowl he was holding to Jordan.

“David loves it so we watch together; it’s our quality time. Even without liking it, I admire the way the writers weave the personal histories of the characters together. It reminds me of the red beams surrounding something valuable. There are so many criss-crosses and as soon as a beam is touched, all hell breaks loose.”

“See Hotch,” Emily gently nudged his ribs. “Quality time.”

Hotch wanted to say something but he knew his head would roll of he did. So he just smiled and sat back on the couch.

“I'm here, aren’t I?” he asked his wife. “I'm doing my very best not to grumble too much. I’ll be happy when they solve the Slayer murders. If they wait too much longer it'll be silly.”

“They can't solve it until they put Roman through the ringer.” Will said. “They’ll want him to cop to Audrina as a copycat or admit to all the murders.”

“Well the killer does have an extensive knowledge of forensics and police procedures.” Erin said. “He could be in the Bureau. They haven’t spent enough time fleshing out the Slayer subplot. They'd rather focus on Trish’s bed-hopping adventures.”

“Hey!” Emily exclaimed.

“Peaches,” Penelope put her hand on Emily’s knee. “That was not a personal slight.”

“It certainly wasn’t.” Erin replied, her guard back up. “I don’t get so involved as to know which characters are supposed to represent the people in this room. In fact, it was a bit reckless for the writers to even go there.”

“Emily actually created Trish.” Spencer said. “The writers wanted her input and she gave it. The character has special meaning for her.”

“You authorized Showtime to shadow us, Erin.” Hotch said.

“No, the Deputy Director did that.” Erin corrected. “Anyway, shadowing doesn’t mean stealing personality traits and exaggerating them.”

“Well I love it.” Penelope smiled. “I look forward to watching my adorable bisexual doppelganger every week.”

“I do too.” Jordan nodded. “I especially love the sexual harassment subplot with Strasser. I can't figure out if she wants Kimberly or if she just likes toying with people’s lives.”

“We’ve all seen that somewhere before.” Emily said, unable to help herself.

“I think when this episode goes off, we should take a dinner break.” Hotch said, sensing the tension. “I’ll make some burgers. I need to fire up the grill.”

“Rewind it a bit, Em.” Jordan said. “I love this scene with Trish and Roman.”

“Me too. Sit up here with me, J.”

Jordan joined Emily on the couch. Dave got up to help Hotch—assess the damage—leaving Erin on the couch with Jordan and Emily. That was familiar territory. And the woman of the house could damn sure use a clove.

“I’d be behind Roman and Trish if the writers went there.” Morgan said. “They’re like best friends but who knows what will happen when he’s mourning Audrina and getting accused of murder.”

“She's trying to work it out with Pres.” Emily replied. “I'm rooting for them, at least to have a moment where they can just admit it to each other.”

“No comment.” Jordan scrunched her nose.

Erin looked out at Dave and Aaron talking on the back deck. She wished she could be a fly on the wall for that conversation. Sighing, she grabbed a cigarette from her purse and headed to the sliding glass door.

“I need a cigarette, excuse me.”

Derek opened the door for her and Erin walked out. Jordan massaged Emily’s shoulders.

“You're doing really well, sweetie.”

“I should be up for sainthood.” Emily muttered through clenched teeth.

“Honestly, she hasn’t been bad at all.” Morgan said. “I know you two have enough beef to feed a third world country but maybe its time to bury the hatchet.”

“Yeah, in her back. Derek, are you serious?” Emily glared at him. “Lets do a recap…she brought me into the BAU to destroy Hotch and Gideon. When I refused, she was going to trump up something so she could put a stain on my personnel record. I had to quit to escape the prospect of that. You can forgive her, Morgan; you can forgive her all the way to next Tuesday. Erin Strauss can kiss my ass.”

“That happened three years ago.” Penelope said. “OK, that’s not forever by any standards, but you of all people know what it’s like carrying that weight around everyday. Today is supposed to be fun and you're not having fun because you're letting something from years ago ruin it for you.”

“Does anyone else want to tell me in not so subtle terms that I'm an ass?” Emily asked.

“No one said that Em.” JJ replied. “Everyone in this room has your back and you know it. It’s just something to think about it. Not for Erin even, but for you.”

“Cecelia and Dana are about to kiss for the first time.” Spencer said, breaking up the conversation.

“Oh crap.” Garcia took the remote from Emily and moved the DVD back. “We need to watch this.” She said. “No more of this mad-sad-bad stuff…lets watch our show.”

“You’ll get no argument out of me.” Emily leaned back on the couch and folded her arms.

***

“Are you OK?” Dave put his chin on her shoulder.

“I'm quite excited that I'm not the only person who sees the Preston and Palmieri thing. Its really there.”

“Its there, baby.” He kissed her shoulder.

“Emily hates my guts, David.” Erin said. “OK, I can't exactly blame her but…”

“Do you wanna just go?”

“No.” she shook her head. “I'm a big girl; I can handle it.”

“Do the cigarettes help?”

“Why do you think I brought them? It’s just an excuse to get the hell out of dodge when the tension gets too high. It’s a bit like Aaron and the grill.”

“We only have about seven more hours.”

“You didn’t have to remind me of that. I'm thinking of appropriate payback for this as we speak.”

“Your wish is my command.” Dave replied. “C'mon, we should go back inside.”

Erin put the cigarette out in the bucket of sand on the wooden banister. She turned around and looked at him.

“You just don’t want to miss too much action on the show.” Her smile cracked through even though she was being Miss Serious.

“I plead the fifth.” Dave grinned, kissing her lips.

“They can see us; they're probably watching.”

“I don’t care.” He kissed her again. “Do you care?”

“Probably. C'mon,” Erin put her arm around him. “I think Palmieri and Strasser kiss in the next episode.”

***

“Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“Do you think I need to let it go?”

“I don't know what you're talking about.”

“The Strauss thing.”

Hotch stopped what he was doing, which was loading the dishwasher. It was after 2am, Sunday morning, and he was loading the dishwasher. They had a nice day with the family, despite some stutter steps and stumbles. And he made it through 13 hours relatively unscathed. Love it or hate it, and Aaron Hotchner did not love it, it was part of his life. Season 3 started in two weeks and he’d be doing it all over again.

“It’s a tough thing to let go. And there have been other incidents as well. Not that I wouldn’t stand by you, 150%, whatever you choose.”

“I look at the way he looks at her…you can't fake that. He may talk to you, I would never ask you to betray his trust but…”

“Emily, he loves her.” Hotch replied. “I'm surely not betraying any trust saying so. Dave loves Erin like I love you. And she loves him back. Other than that, I stay out of it. But that much I know is true.

“I can admit that even with the things that happened, making me step down, the inquiry into the killing of George Foyet, the full retirement package, Erin Strauss is not the same Section Chief she was before Milwaukee. She's not perfect, surely, but neither are you. I'm sure you never expected her to be a member of our family. We were all rather shocked by that. But she is now, so weigh the potential forever of that by how much the anger you're holding onto raises your blood pressure.”

“Maybe they’ll break up.” Emily said.

“I'm thinking no. If I tell you something will you never tell a soul?”

“Of course I won't.”

“Dave bought her an engagement ring, and they live together now.”

“Oh my God, are you serious?” Emily sighed. “I need a clove.”

Her husband grabbed the cloves from the drawer and put them on the table. Emily sat down and lit one. Hotch finished loading the dishwasher.

“Do you want tea?” he asked.

“Something to help me sleep would be lovely.”

He nodded, getting up again to fill the kettle and putting it on the stove.

“David Rossi is ready to take the plunge for the fourth time?” she asked. “He’s ready to do it with Erin Strauss?”

“Yeah.” Hotch nodded. “That shouldn’t have any bearing on your decision, baby, except to reinforce the fact that she's not going anywhere.”

“I let that Trish comment get to me and that was dumb. If anyone else had said it, I would’ve thrown a pillow at them, but I would’ve laughed too. When she said it, it was like a personal affront.” Emily sighed again. “I don’t want to think about anymore. I’ll just…I don't know, but I won't think about it anymore tonight.”

“That’s probably for the best.” Hotch took her hand and kissed it. “We all did well today. Let’s focus on the victory and the rest will be the rest.”

“Yeah, and Strauss hates _BSU_.” Emily replied. “It looks like you two have something in common.”

“I was gonna say the same thing to you when the quality time thing came up.”

Hotch got up, poured two mugs of hot water, and dropped in the Sleepytime tea bags.

“Why didn’t you?” Emily asked.

“I didn’t want you to beat the living hell out of me in front of our friends.”

Emily smiled and then began to laugh. Hotch laughed too, kissing her hand again.

“We had a good day.” He said. “Despite having to watch 13 hours of _BSU_ it was still good.”

“Yeah. Best part…Strauss is a Pres/Palmieri shipper. That was pretty classic.”

“That show brings us all kinds of information we never needed to know. C'mon, baby, its bedtime.”

“Dad and Nat invited us over for brunch tomorrow at one. I thought we could sleep in and still make it. Then we’ll bring the kids home.”

“That sounds good. I’ll be lucky if I sleep in.”

“I'm not letting you out of bed until 10am, Aaron Hotchner; you need rest. I don’t care if I have to hold you down.”

“Hmm, keep talking on this ‘holding me down’ thing.”

***

“OK, what's a shipper again?”

“You're so cute.” Dave replied.

“What?” she rested her chin in the palm of her hand.

“You really want to know, don’t you?”

“Yes. I still don’t like the show very much but this whole subculture thing is intriguing.”

“A shipper is someone who endorses a certain relationship on a TV show; or a movie or book. It’s possible that Pres/Palmieri is the biggest ship in the fandom. _BSU_ is overwhelmingly slash.”

“Slash?” Erin raised an eyebrow.

“Slash is a male/male ship. Femslash is for female/female and het is for male/female.”

“That’s fascinating.”

“I have to admit that as a profiler I was quite intrigued. There's more, a lot more, but we need to sleep baby. I promise we’ll discuss it more at brunch tomorrow.”

“How do you know all of these things, David?”

“Jordan and Emily told me everything I know. Now I pass the knowledge onto you.”

“Isn't that sweet of you?” Erin stroked his chest as she cuddled in his arms. “You’ve already taught me so many amazing things, Agent Rossi.” Her hand moved across his stomach and down into his boxers. “It’s nice to know there's more to come.”

“Baby, I know you'll hardly believe this but I'm too exhausted. I promise that tomorrow I will rock your world.”

“I believe you.” Erin laughed, kissing him. “I love you David; goodnight.”

“Sweet dreams baby. I love you too.”

***

  



End file.
